Skaneateles, Westhill, Marcellus girls lacrosse roll to sectional wins

CENTRAL NEW YORK – Three different area high school girls lacrosse teams had one more chance to play on their respective home fields in Tuesday’s Section III Class D quarterfinals – and all were successful without too much stress.

Skaneateles and Westhill set up a highly-anticipated semifinal showdown against one another Thursday at Chittenango High School as the no. 2 seed Lakers rolled past no. 7 seed Clinton 19-4 and the no. 3 seed Warriors did the same beating no. 6 seed Homer 17-4.

Against a Clinton side which had played a full game the night before, a refreshed Skaneateles side emphatically established itself, eventually gaining a 14-1 halftime advantage with six different players ultimately earning multiple goals.

Grace Marquardt again was a focal point, netting three goals and dishing out six assists, while Paige Willard scored twice and got four assists. Ana Nichols, Cora Major, Anasofia Cirincione and Mara Stanton also had two-goal outings, with single goals going to Lily Kennedy, Kiki Morrissey and Bella Carbonaro.

In Westhilll’s case, what made it so impressive was that the Warriors ignored the hot afternoon conditions and jumped all over a Homer side that had played the day before, beating Watertown IHC 19-2 in the opening round.

Winning draws and attacking at will, Westhill didn’t let up until it had built a 13-2 halftime advantage, then kept going while nicely balancing out its offense behind Kara Rosenberger’s four goals and two assists.

Sophia Lasher (three goals, two assists) and Rosie Mahoney (two goals, three assists) had matching point totals, while Grace Stroman, Aubrey Holowinski and eighth-grader Melissa Mondo all scored twice. Kaylin Murphy and Delaney Goode also picked up goals.

In the other part of the sectional Class D bracket, Marcellus, the no. 4 seed, earned a semifinal date with top seed South Jefferson by handling no. 5 seed General Brown 16-7.

Tested by a tough regular season, the Mustangs steadily worked its way to a 9-4 halftime advantage, with the Lions not knowing who it had to stop.

That was because 15 of the Marcellus goals came from three players. Cece Powell scored six times, running her season total to 83, while Sophia Pilon had five goals and one assist and Claire Card added four goals. Adelle Aupperle had the other goal.

Clinton only got to face Skaneateles because it won a tense opening-round game against Jordan-Elbridge on Monday night, the no. 10 seed Eagles falling 7-5 to the Comets.

Neither team was productive in the first half, but J-E could not take advantage of Clinton’s early struggles, limited to a single tally as it went to the break trailing 3-1.

Things picked up from there, the Eagles leaning its attack on Kelsey Brunelle, who had three goals, and Charlotte Hsiao, who scored twice as Briella Gilfus and Marcelline Titus earned assists.

The Comets answered every J-E surge, though, as Claire Mihm got three goals and Dakota Deveans two goals with help from Taylor Kittleman and Alice Gaetano each getting one goal and one assit to overcome Ryleigh Gill’s 10 saves. The Eagles’ season finished with a 7-10 record.